It is commonplace to moor a vehicle such as a boat or floating aircraft to a dock or to another vehicle. Water traffic or severe weather conditions, such as rough water or turbulent winds can buffet the vehicle excessively causing damage, or even loss of the vehicle. This invention relates to a telescoping bar for vehicles such as a boat which can be adjusted to moor a boat at various distances from a dock or to another craft and which is automatically locked at the adjusted length for mooring when the mooring and guying ropes are taut.
The prior art relating to devices for mooring a boat is extensive. This art includes bumpers or fenders which may be attached either to the boat or to a dock to prevent the boat from being damaged by hitting against the dock due to the action of wind and waves. However, these bumpers rub and scuff the boat often causing moderate but permanent damage to the boat.
Accordingly, mooring devices were developed which separate the boat from the structure to which it is moored. Most of these devices employ a rigid elongated body which is used as a separating bar to cause a boat to standoff from its dock. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,938,492, 3,224,404, 3,863,591, 3,878,808, 5,398,634, 5,634,421, and 6,561,113 disclose typical structures having bars of constant length. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,558,174, 3,406,651, 4,977,846, and 5,014,638 disclose mooring devices of several, discrete varying lengths produced by telescoping one element within another. However, these telescoping bars are not infinitely adjustable within the minimum and maximum lengths. Additionally, they are cumbersome to apply in certain docking situations. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,145,461 and 6,422,169 require special attachments to the craft and are also of constant length.
The inventor's U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,442 discloses a standoff mooring bar which is infinitely variable between minimum and maximum lengths. This mooring bar employs an internal locking assembly to fix the adjustable length of a telescoping pair of tubes, however, the internal locking assembly utilizes a flexible rope affixed to the inner telescoping cylindrical tube. This connection to the inner cylindrical tube is more susceptible to failure which could cause collapse of the mooring bar and subsequent damage to the craft than is the proposed invention. This prior art also requires a separate guy rope whereas the new invention employs the continuation of the flexible locking rope as it passes outside the mooring bar becoming the guying rope thus eliminating the extra, separate rope and susceptible connection therein.